Never Say Goodbye (Rewrite)
by Neathra
Summary: Kira Sullivan joined the Defender's of Manhattan; running out after an argument with her mother - she never came back. Her surviving family reflects on how that lack of a goodbye, and other circumstances around Kira's death just made everything worse. Rewrite of Never Said Goodbye


**Why was this originally five chapters? Because I was 14, and was bad at writing.**

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_Mother_

Angela managed to hold herself together until Chiron had disconnected the iris message. But once the rainbow faded, she broke. Her baby was gone, and the last memory she had of Kira was the front door slamming.

She hadn't wanted Kira to go to Manhattan. Being a demigod was dangerous at the best of times, but Kira had been talking about a war. A battle between Titans and Gods. How could she be a good parent, and let her daughter walk into a warzone? Grounding Kira might not have been the best move, but it was all Angela could think to do.

Her daughter had not taken it well. She yelled, Angela yelled back. Finally Kira had snarled, "If I stay, I may not be as bad as those who joined Kronos, but I certainly won't be stopping them!" before slamming the front door.

Josh found her still sitting at the kitchen table, still crying. He didn't need to ask – just pulled her into a big hug. He held her for a full minute before asking,

"If you can't come and get her, I can go alone."

Angela shook her head, "they buried her the _traditional way,_" the words tasted like acid in her mouth, "They cremated her body. Couldn't even be bothered to see if I wanted to bury my child."

_Step-father_

Josh had known Kira since she was three, and had been more of a father to her by any metric than her biological father. If he wasn't worried about getting smited – no, those idiot's terrible parenting had cost him his daughter – Apollo was a terrible parent. He'd dumped Angela at three months pregnant, and then never bothered to even write a single child support check. He'd only popped up again once Kira was old enough to be useful.

The Olympians might not have literally killed her, but to Josh, they were the party most responsible for Kira's death. Then, they'd had the gall to take away the closure of burying a child.

Angela cried, and Josh? Well, he took out his grief on the logistics – getting a death certificate, writing obituaries, talking to the school. Planning a funeral. A funeral he shouldn't have to plan, and if there was any real justice, wouldn't be necessary.

He hopes that the Olympians stay to form, and keep away, and– maybe more pettily – Kira's friends and siblings from Camp. They'd already held their own memorial after all.

_Step-Sister_

Jane was in preschool when she made friends with her future sister. Kira was friendly, funny, and had fairly good aim with building blocks. Sometimes the boys deserved it. Of course, than her Daddy, met Kira's Mommy, and they decided to get married. She and Kira had been in 1st grade then.

Unlike most demigods, Kira had never had trouble with monsters. Maybe it was how she'd been buried in a mortal family since toddlerhood, or maybe it was the universes apology for her truly horrendous ADHD, and Dyslexia. Jane had met other demigods – Kira was by far the worse.

They'd been sisters, and told each other everything. Jane had told Kira about all the different sights she missed on family vacations: What is was like riding the London Eye, or seeing Rome, or how objectively boring things like that Parthenon where inside. No really, Ancient Greek architecture was just not that interesting.

Of course, in return Jane had gotten a firsthand account of adventures at Camp Half—Blood. About the Ares and Athena cabins ongoing fight during Capture the Flag, or how Percy Jackson and Company where the only ones to really go on quests.

The sisters had also gone on quests, more when they were little, but occasionally, they'd dig out the old cardboard armor and weapons, and sneak off to liberate snacks from the kitchen, battling homework monsters along the way. Kira joked it was almost more fun than a real quest – no cross country hiking, and no chance you'd get stuck somewhere.

But, Kira always came back. Until she didn't. Eventually, the camp's directors had gotten the hint and returned some of Kira's things: cloths, make-up, some posters she'd had up by her bunk. Nothing important.

_Brother_

There's a pictures on the mantel. Of a girl who looks kinda like him. Not the same though, outside of a few celebrities, he's never seen blonde hair like that anywhere. Mom doesn't like to talk about it. When he brings it up she gets sad. She doesn't cry, but just pats him on the head and tells him to get a cookie.

Dad doesn't really like to talk about it ether. He's not sad though. Dad gets angry. Not angry at Harry, but at someone. He'll usually slam down what he's holding, and make some incoherent comments about power, and fault.

Jane tells him about their sister. She shows him silly home moves of her and Kira playing knights, or dragons. About a Christmas where they got lookalikes dolls and switched them, so they always were together.

She tells him why he only has one sister. How Kira's birth-father – "Sperm donor" he hears his father mutter from the dining room only to be shushed by his mother – had needed help, and Kira had gone to help him, but there had been an accident on the way back, and she hadn't made it.

"Do you think she would have liked me?" he asks,

Jane nods, and gives him a one armed squeeze "Ya. She would have loved you."


End file.
